Ralph Fiennes Cast as President Snow in Next ‘Hunger Games’ Movie

Ralph Fiennes is returning to the cinema as the villain in another young adult book series. This time in the upcoming film, The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, based on the novel by Suzanne Collins, which was released earlier this year.

Fiennes will play President Snow in the upcoming film. Donald Sutherland previously helmed the role in the four mainline Hunger Games films, and Tom Blyth played him as a young pre-President Snow character, Coriolanus Snow, in the 2023 film The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

Nina Jacobson, Producer for Color Force, told Deadline:

“We wanted to honour Donald Sutherland by having one of this generation’s greatest actors play President Snow 24 years before Katniss Everdeen entered the arena. Working with Ralph has been on my bucket list since he traumatised me for life in Schindler’s List. It’s genuinely a thrill to welcome him to the Hunger Games.”

Sunrise on the Reaping will also star Joseph Zada as a 16-year-old Haymitch—played by Woody Harrelson in the original films—in a Hunger Games that will see double the number of tributes entered into the games.

The cast list also incldues  Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donner, Jesse Plemons as Plutarch Heavensbee, Kelvin Harrison Jr. as Beetee, Maya Hawke as Wiress, Lili Taylor as Mags, and Ben Wang as Wyatt Callow. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping will be directed by long-running partner of the franchise, Francis Lawrence, with a script by Billy Ray.